A soccer match is full of moments of action, screams, and a lot of energy. Soccer fans love to watch their favorite players on the screen, but photographing football soccer has its place in the soccer industry and its fans.
Are you also thinking to start your career with a soccer photography? Using advanced equipments at different moments during the match with additional camera settings is all you need to excel in this field. What is The best part of being a soccer photographer?
You can make millions per year with an additional chance of visiting different countries to photograph the matches. Your client will pay for your travel expenses as you will be traveling for them.
Worried about where to start and how to excel in photographing soccer matches? Being a professional soccer photographer, I’ll help you with the best tips and guides. So ready to start?
Read More Related > How to shoot indoor volleyball photography.
What Is Soccer Photography?
Soccer photographers capture the wild and extreme moments during a soccer match, which is known as photographing soccer. Working in a closed setup and capturing photographs of people and products is not equal to going outside and gathering photographs of the players on a field.
It’s another difficult type of photography because you will have to deal with a lot of speed, weather changes and especially the continuously moving ball. Still, if you have the skills you can excel and earn a good living.
Soccer Photography Tips To Become A Pro
You cannot learn photography for soccer by only enrolling in a photography course. Instead, you need to work on tips that make you a pro soccer photographer. I am sharing tips that always work for me whenever I have to shoot a soccer match. Look at these tips, and start getting more clients monthly.
01: Keep Focus On The Crowd
For years I didn’t realize the importance of the crowd in a soccer match unless I started observing the photographs of the most popular soccer photographers in the world.
Their focus was not only on the players and the soccer ball; instead, the audience sitting in a huge crowd was the first and most important factor they considered for their photography.
In whichever country you are, you will see a bunch of spirits in the crowd with multiple colorful outfits and many people presenting their colorful banners in love with the players and the soccer game.
These particular people and banners can add variety to your photographs. I recommend using a Canon EF 17mm-40mm lens with F/5.6 aperture and 1/800 shutter speed to capture the crowd.
02: Sit On A Lower Level
You can sit in the crowd or stand beside the field depending on your own height and other factors. But sitting on the ground level was The best thing that worked for me. You can use the following:
- Shutter speed 1/250
- Aperture F/5
- ISO Speed 1250
- Flash fired
You can also try the place behind the goalkeeper because from here; you will see every coming or missing goal so you can photograph better. Sit with a focus and stay ready to capture the moment when the ball approaches the net, increasing one point for the team.
03: Capture Single Players
Capture solo photographs of single players to add authenticity and uniqueness to your photographs. Although it may seem difficult for you, you can still do this using a specific telephoto zoom lens like Sony 70-350mm that I prefer to use because it helps me take clear yet fascinating photographs of single soccer players.
For additional settings, you can use a shutter speed: of 1/800, an aperture: of F/2.8, an ISO Speed: of 1600, and a non-fired flash.
04: Keep Your Eyes On The Ball
Capture mind-blowing soccer photographs by following the ball’s movement in the game. There is a single ball in a soccer match that is easier to follow with your camera.
Using autofocus mode is better with an AI Servo AF Canon as this helps to maintain the camera’s focus on the ball. This saves you from the issue of blurring especially when you are capturing photographs from a distance sitting outside the field.
Use a shutter speed of 1/1250, ISO Speed of 1600, and F/2.8 aperture. If you want to capture multiple continuous action shots, you can hold the shutter button and keep capturing the photographs. You can use a large aperture for multiple shots to blur the background and sharpen the subject.
05: Shot The Action
A soccer match brings a lot of high jumps and fast hitting to the ball, or even some exciting head knocks that soccer fans love. My best hit includes a bicycle where the ball is kicked backward. Adjusting the shutter speed to 1/1250 second reduces the chances of blurring the photographs.
Using shutter speed often works for me, but if you face any issues, you can increase the aperture by F/4 to get the exact photographs of the players and the soccer ball.
06: Use Groups
I usually asked the team players to gather in a group for a lovely group photo presenting all the players. You can do it before or after the match, depending on when the players agree to give you a chance to capture photographs. The best pose I usually follow is dividing the team into 2 rows, with one standing while the other kneeling.
This is a very useful pose as everyone gets enough space in the photograph. As this will be a close photograph from less distance, you can use a shutter speed of 1/250 second, with f/5 aperture.
What Factors Consider for Soccer Phographs Pricing
The cost of football soccer photographing depends on various factors, including:
- Your level of expertise
- National or International match
- Location of the match
- Mutual agreement
Soccer photographers charge thousands of dollars to cover one match as it is a highly professional and difficult task. You can also charge per photo if the client agrees.
People Also Ask
01: What’s the best equipment for the best soccer photographs?
You must have a telephoto lens to get clear, zoomed-in, and high-class soccer photographs. I recommend covering the vast field at least 300mm by the lens.
02: How to freeze action when photographing a soccer match?
You should use a very fast shutter speed to avoid any blurring in the photograph. Use 100-800 ISO while freezing action as it helps you get less or no blurring in the photographs.
Wrapping Up
Soccer photography is a highly-paid career that you can choose, as I did a few years back. I advise enrolling in a paid course if you cannot have the chance of completing graduation in photography. The better your qualifications are, the higher your chances of success and winning clients you will have.
I hope this guide was helpful enough to make the start of your career easy. Even if you are already photographing soccer matches, you can use my tips to add more professionalism to your soccer photographs.